


Creation

by timefornothing



Series: Marvelous [2]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Multi, Prequel, Violence, idk what tags are help, story telling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-07
Updated: 2015-06-07
Packaged: 2018-04-03 08:28:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 21,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4094017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timefornothing/pseuds/timefornothing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prequel to Marvelous: Salvation<br/>Avengers/X-Men AU. FINISHED</p><p>Eric and Hope were inseparable from the moment they were born. Being twins, they knew everything about each other, going through the struggles of getting older together. On their thirteenth birthday, Eric's mutant abilities manifest for the first time, and Hope's not long after. Soon, they begin to realize just how powerful they are, and just how careful they need to be. Can they escape the evil entities that wish to control them? Or will they fall, leaving the world in peril?</p><p>By popular demand, Hope has returned in the prequel to her adventures with the X-Men and the Avengers, telling the origin story of her and her brother and how they came to be pivotal pieces in the fate of the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is, the prequel to Salvation! You can also [read it on wattpad here!](https://www.wattpad.com/story/8901275-marvelous-creation)
> 
> Have fun, see you at the end. (:

**_BOOK TWO: CREATION_**  
 **cre·a·tion**  
krēˈāSH(ə)n/  
-The action or process of bringing something into existence.

**New York: 2014**

"You know, that was a nice story you told in there."

Hope looked over at Johnny Storm, a confused look on her face. "What do you mean?"

Johnny readjusted where he sat, his rear end a little sore from sitting atop the torch of Lady Liberty for so long. "The story you told us, about how you got your powers. Do you think I'm stupid?" He sat a little closer to Hope, knowing she'd be much colder than he was way up here.

Hope looked away, rolling her eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do!" Johnny nudged her. "Come on, I showed you my secret. I showed you this spot. You left out some major details and points of interest in your creation story."

Hope gave a small smile, still studying the waters below. "My creation story?"

"Every hero has one. You get to tell yours and your brothers, and I want to hear the whole thing, down to the gory details." Johnny watched her carefully. "I know there's more to the story than just what you said in there. Really Hope, you can't just tell us that you and your brother snuck into a mutant press conference and expect me to not wanna know how! And his mental abilities? Those are crazy! You gotta explain them in more depth!"

She laughed then, raising her eyes to the horizon line. "Fine, fine. But are you sure? It's a long story."

Johnny, already uncomfortable from being up here an hour, pushed aside his feelings. "Positive. So tell me!"

She smiled, knowing he was truly interested. "Well, buckle up, Johnny, because you're about to hear the full, unedited origin story of Hope and Eric Banner. So, like I said, it all started the day of our thirteenth birthday…"


	2. One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A surprising birthday present.

**Oregon 2007**

 

"Eric! Hope!" Our mother called up the stairs. "Come on, we need to clean for the party later!"  
I frowned, struggling to read my english homework. None of these sentences made sense. With a loud groan, I slammed my book shut.

_Poor Eric._

"What did you say?" I turned to my sister, Hope. She looked at me, frowning.

"What are you talking about? I didn't say anything."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Yes you did! I heard you!"

Hope rolled her eyes, shoving her own homework onto her bed and sliding off the top bunk to the floor. She was always better at jumping down than I was. "Whatever. I'm going to help Mom."

I frowned, standing from one of our desks and following her. We thumped down the stairs, walking quickly into our kitchen where our mother already was, baking a cake.

"Well it took you two long enough!" She said with a smile, mixing the batter in a bowl in front of her. 

I glared at Hope. "Sorry Mom, Hope was making fun of me."

"Was not!" She shouted. "He's hearing voices and he's blaming me!"

"I'm not hearing voices!"

"Guys! Stop!" Mom raised her hands, sighing. "I don't need this right now! We have until 4 this afternoon before your family members start showing up! Go clean the garage out and make room for people. And help your father set up the tables and chairs in the driveway while you're at it."

Still staring at each other, we muttered "Fine." at the same time and headed out to the garage. I walked behind her, starting to finally be taller than her. It's about time! I finally had something over my sister. She was more athletic than I was, and did better in school, but now I was taller.

_What a jerk._

"I'm not a jerk!" I said, looking down at her walking in front of me. She spun around, eyes wide. 

"What? How did you--" She stopped, mouth wide open.

"Hope, I heard you call me a jerk." I replied, crossing my arms. She continued to stare at me, then said slowly, "Eric, I didn't say that out loud."

Then my eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"I thought it, I didn't say it." Hope stared at me, and I stared back, confused. What was she saying? I didn't understand it one bit. Yet, as I looked at her, unmoving, more words reached me, and definitely in her voice.

_How the hell is he reading my mind?_

"Hope! You know we aren't allowed to say the H word!" I said, looking around us. And again, her mouth dropped open and she took a step back.

"Eric! You're reading my mind! Stop it!"

"But I'm not!" I argued, hands flying out to my sides. "I can't hear what you're thinking right now!" Then I narrowed my eyes, a thought occurring to me. "Wait, are you a ventriloquist?"

"What?" Hope made a face. "I don't even know what that is."

"Someone who throws their voice." I said. "I saw it on a TV show once. They can make their voice be heard from somewhere else without moving their mouth." I depended on TV since I couldn't read all that well, it was easier for me.

Hope rolled her eyes again. She was always sarcastic. "No, I'm not a ventrotwist." 

"Ventriloquist." 

"Whatever!" She poked me with her finger, face scrunched up like it always did when she wanted to figure something out. "You're reading my mind, and I don't like it. So stop it." Then she spun and walked fully into the garage, greeting our father as he was sweeping.

The entire time we were out there cleaning, my mind was running in circles. Was I really hearing her thoughts? It hadn't happened since we were in the hallway, so I was beginning to doubt it. Or maybe it was just really strong thoughts of hers I could hear? I saw a movie once where there was a dude who could only hear things if someone was really angry or sad. Maybe it's like that.

_Eric? Can you hear me?_

I jumped, dropping the broom. My dad spun around, frowning at me. "You okay, Eric?"

I nodded quickly, eyes wide. He turned around, and I glanced at Hope, who was staring at me with a huge grin.

_So it works!_

I jumped again, then frowned at her. What was she doing? She ran over to me, grabbing my arm excitedly.

"Ouch, Hope."

"Sorry!" She hissed, then smiled again. "Eric! I think I figured it out!"

"What, how to scare the crap out of me?" I whispered, glancing at dad then back to her. She shook her head, gray eyes lit up. Her eyes looked just like mine, a light gray with a dark ring around them. We both had curly brown hair, and our dad's tan skin. Other than that, though, we weren't too alike, although our friends always said we were.

"No! I think it's twin telepathy!"

I made a face at her. "You mean like on those TV shows where the twins can read each other's minds? Or know what their twin is thinking without asking? That doesn't actually happen in real life, Hope." I pushed her hand off of me. "Don't be stupid."

She frowned, and another thought reached my mind. _Why doesn't he believe me? This is serious!_ I opened my mouth to say something, then stopped. What if it was? There was a movie where one twin had powers and the other didn't. Is that why she couldn't hear my thoughts? Was I a mutant and she wasn't? I looked away, head hurting from trying to hear myself think.

Wait a minute. Why was I having trouble hearing my own thoughts? I was quiet, and I realized there was a dull buzzing just below my own thoughts. 

"Eric! Listen to me!" Hope grabbed me again, and as our eyes made contact, I felt this odd pressure in my head, as if my brain was stretching, like you'd stretch your legs before a run. Confused, I focused and pressed further and harder, and Hope stopped, eyes wide.

_Oh my God, he's doing it._

Then the pressure snapped, and I could almost feel my consciousness stretch out until it hit one just in front of me. There was another barrier, but I slipped past it easily. And as soon as I did, I was lost, flying through emotions and thoughts and and memories and even hormones that were definitely not my own. I saw Hope's friends, slightly blurry, walking away from her. I felt the way her mind churned while working on a math problem, I felt her legs pump beneath her as she sprinted for a soccer ball.

_Eric?_

Holy shit.

I know Mom didn't want us saying that word either, but now was the time. I think it's okay to cuss when you're inside your twin sister's head for the first time.

"Eric!"

I jumped, awareness pulled back by Hope's actual voice and not just her thoughts. The visions in front of me stopped, and my eyes refocused on Hope's face in front of mine.

"Eric, are you okay?" She asked again, quietly, both hands on my arms.

I nodded, slowly. So she had no idea. Hope had no idea that I was in her head. "Hope…I think this is more than just twin telepathy."

She looked over her shoulder to our dad, still obliviously sweeping away the leaves from our garage and driveway. She looked back at me, eyeing me up and down. "We'll work on this later, tonight. Until then, stay out of my head." She shoved me, then turned and walked towards Dad, asking where the chairs were gonna be put.

I stood there for another minute, thinking. So I could read Hope's mind. I smiled to myself. Oh, this was gonna be good.

"Dad! Where's the tables?"

\- - - - -

Hope kicked me under the table, and I smiled to myself. This was so much fun. With a gentle press, so gentle she didn't know, I could hear everything she was thinking and feeling, which meant I knew just exactly how she really felt about our relatives and the presents we got. And I readily commented on it.

"You hate pink." I whispered, and she kicked me again. I had to put my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing while Hope said to our Aunt, "Oh, this is such a great color! I love it!" She put the jacket back in the box, and I could hear her planning on returning it already.

When the presents were done and the adults milled about, she turned to be, face dark and angry. I could actually feel how pissed off she was at me. That was cool--and also kind of weird.

"I told you to stay out of my head!"

"Shh!" I said, glancing around and trying to quiet her. Quieting her was always hard, she didn't know the meaning of an inside voice. "Hope, you can't honestly expect me to just ignore what I can do. This is so cool! I can read your mind!" 

"Yes, it's cool, but how do you think I feel?" Hope sighed at me, and I almost laughed again as I felt her annoyance. "I can't do anything! So don't read my mind unless I say so!" She sat back and crossed her arms, staring angrily at me. I looked back at her, trying to keep as straight a face as possible. She sighed, "That's not going to happen, is it?"

I couldn't hold in my laughter anymore, nearly doubling over in response. She rolled her eyes and shoved me, nearly making me fall off the bench in the process.

"Jerk."

"Back atcha." I giggled, smiling up at her.

The rest of the party was pretty much me reading Hope's mind without her knowing it. I got bored quickly, though, with her thoughts. I already knew most of her reactions anyways. Being twins does that to you. I mean, they are pretty much the same person as yourself, just a girl. Even though you'd never admit that to anyone.

But then I figured out that with a slightly harder push, I could get past her surface thoughts and feelings and get into her memories. Now that was interesting. While most of our classes were the same, she was in the advanced versions where I was stuck in the basic courses. Our middle school did this testing thing that divided you up based on your scores, and Hope did so much better than I did. I was going through her memories of History class--apparently she liked the boy who sat in front of her--and discovered that I could learn everything Hope learned that I never had.

Basically, she could do my homework for me and never even know it. I just had to tap into her mind. This was perfect! I could finally stop feeling like an idiot and make it into the harder classes like Hope! Mom would be so proud of me!

Finally, after saying goodbye and cleaning and eating more leftovers, Hope and I went upstairs. I flopped onto my bottom bunk, mentally and emotionally drained from having to fake so many smiles. No one in our family was truly happy with each other anymore. Besides, it was all Mom's side of the family. Dad didn't have any living relatives.

That's probably why he was so angry all of the time.

_Eric, wake up._

I jolted upwards as the words went through my mind. I spun around, glaring at Hope as she smiled at me. I needed to find a way to block her out when I wanted. 

"What do you want?" I growled, sitting up. I was tired, I just wanted to go to bed. Besides, we had school tomorrow.

"So, what all can you do? Just read my mind?" She asked, gray eyes lit up with curiosity. I shrugged.

"So far. I mean, I haven't tried too much else. Can I go to bed?"

"Is it just thoughts or everything?" She prodded.

I rolled my eyes. "Seems like everything. If I pushed hard enough, I could go through your memories, so who knows what else I can do with practice."

"So thoughts and memories. What about feelings?"

"Feelings like you have for that boy in your history class?" I snapped, laying back down. I heard her mind reeling, pissed off at me.

"I thought I told you to stay out of my head! Why would you go through it like that! This is an invasion of privacy!"

"Hope, I'm your twin brother. We share a room. We have no privacy." I responded, eyes closing. I found that if I pulled back instead of pushing, I could block out her thoughts so I didn't have to listen.

"Ugh, Eric! Don't do that!"

"I will. I'll keep reading your mind."

"No you won't! Oh my God, Eric, you're so annoying!"

I smiled to myself, rolling over in my bed. School will be fun tomorrow.


	3. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eric gets a little too confident.

I sat in Math class, bored beyond belief. I was in Basic Math Skills, and the teacher had the kind of voice that put you to sleep. So of course, I was contemplating doing so.

Then, as I was daydreaming and doodling on my notebook, a thought occurred to me. How far away could Hope be for me to still read her mind? Glancing up at the teacher to make sure he was still droning on about the equation, I closed my eyes and focused, feeling the familiar pressure of using my mind. I expanded my mind-self outwards, searching for Hope. I need to come up with a better word for that. What did they use in movies? My presence? Essence? Spirit? I like that one. So I expanded my SPIRIT outwards in search for my sister. She was in her math class as well now, so I knew she was in this hallway and not that far away. 

Finally, I found her. She was focused, mind feeling busy as she worked on a math problem. I could actually feel what she was doing in order to solve it. Pressing harder, I suddenly was able to see through her eyes, hearing and seeing what she was as if I were watching a movie. Okay, this was sick.

"Eric Banner!"

I jumped, my spirit being ripped out of Hope's mind as I got scared. I felt her get confused, then I was back in my seat, staring up at the teacher, who was glaring at me.

"Yes, Mr. Goodson?" How dare he talk to me? I mean, I know I wasn't paying attention, but neither was anyone else. I hated this class. I hated every class.

"Care to solve the problem on the board?" He asked, eyebrows raised in annoyance.

"Easily." I snorted, though began to doubt myself as I looked at the numbers in front of me. They swam in front of me, and I swallowed hard.

But wait. I could read Hope's mind. I could use her math skills. Why don't I? So I shot out my spirit again, pretending to think about the equation. I could feel her, still thinking, and searched quickly for her math memories. This was insane. I could use her own brain for my purposes.

"X equals 7." I said with a smirk, leaning back in my chair. The teacher frowned at me. I nearly never got questions right in this class.

"What about the next one? It's a bit harder." He asked snidely, and again I reached into Hope's mind.

"X equals 14 over C."

Now, everyone in class turned to look at me, but I merely smiled. This was amazing. They all knew I sucked at math, but here I was answering two problems in a row.

"Give me another one, I'm bored." I said, leaning even further back in my chair. Mr. Goodson was obviously angry now, but this was entertaining. Besides, I felt like I could solve any question now, thanks to Hope's education. It was like I had learned it myself.

Mr. Goodson opened his book, and wrote an equation on the board, growling, "This is from Pre-Algebra, the next class up." He turned around, an forced smile on his face.

Easy. Hope was in Algebra, and she'd be in Geometry next year. Again, I searched into her mind, gathering what I needed to solve it.

"X equals 7ab."

Silence. Nothing but silence. Everyone stared at me, and my teacher sat for a minute before pulling an Algebra book out.

"Alright, Mr. Hotshot, try this one."

Again, he wrote an equation on the board, and again, I solved it. A few of the louder boys I hung out with began clapping when I ripped off the answer, and I could feel Hope start to question about the tickling at the back of her mind.

He wrote three more questions, and I solved them all, and then a fourth, although that one was harder. After that one, he stopped and stared at me. "That's not even Algebra. That's Geometry." The entire class clapped again, my friends cheering for me.

Geometry was the next step up in our school. I guess even Hope was smarter than I thought.

"If you don't mind, Mr. Goodson, I'd like to take the math placement test again." I asked, gathering my stuff. "Also, I don't think I need to be here anymore. E-mail me the homework." I winked, grinning at my friends before I walked out of the class, ignoring his threats of detention. I went and sat in the library, knowing Hope had study hall next. I had history, but that could wait, Hope had that first period anyways. 

I waited the few minutes, glancing around at the books on the shelves while I waited for Hope to show up. I kept tabs on her, listening as she talked to her friends and smiled at that boy in her History class. I smirked. She was too shy to talk to him! Hope was never shy, to anyone, ever.

"Eric?"

I turned and smiled, waving. "Hey Hope!"

"Don't you have a class right now?" She asked, setting her stuff down beside mine at her usual table. 

I shrugged, sitting across from her. "Yeah, but you had it first period, so I can be a little late. I can just get the notes from you later."

"How? I'm not giving them to you. I won't support you becoming lazy."

I smiled. "Hope, I can read your mind. I can get the notes whenever I want."

Hope's hands reached up to cover her ears, as if that was going to stop me. "Eric, that's not cool! I told you to stop!"

"I can't! Hope, don't you realize how cool this is?" I stood up, pacing around her table. "For once in my life, I can do something cool, and I can do something better than you. Let me enjoy it."

Hope stared at me, and I went into her mind to see what she was thinking.

_…he can do lots of things better than me. Why doesn't he know that? But he does have a point, and it is kind of cool._

"One condition."

"Sure."

"You teach me how to know when you're in my head."

I looked at her, then nodded. "Fair enough. We'll work on it. Because if I'm a mutant, and there are other mutants with this power, I want you to be able to protect your head." And then I smiled. "We don't want everyone to know about your crush on Aaron."

"Eric!" Hope screeched, looking around to make sure he wasn't in the library while I laughed. I stood, grabbing my backpack. 

"I guess I'll go to class. We'll work on it after school." I winked. "Don't blush so hard next time you see him."

"Get out!" She yelled, earning a stern look from the librarian. I gave her one last smile, then turned and walked out, just as her friends were walking in. Mary smiled at me, and I smiled back. I kinda had a feeling she liked me, but I was never sure. I wish I could read someone's mind other than Hope's. I'd get bored of being in her head all the time eventually.

\- - - - - 

"Okay, I'm not going to tell you when I'm going in. So just say if you feel something. Okay?"

Hope nodded, closing her eyes. "Ready."

I smiled. She was way too into this. Still, I did want her to be prepared. So I pushed forward, very gently, just like I had yesterday at the birthday party. She didn't move, so I pushed harder, getting into her thoughts. I saw her face scrunch up in concentration, but still no response. Then I pushed harder, going straight into her memories.

"There! I feel it!" Hope said, eyes flying open. "I feel you in there!"

I got up and shut our bedroom door, sighing. "Hope, I was in there for a solid minute. I had already read your thoughts and emotions. Surface stuff."

She frowned. "Really? But…"

"Okay, you know how it feels when I do this?" I asked as I pushed into her memories. She nodded, and I pulled back ever so slightly. "Hold onto that." I continued pulling out of her memories, slipping into her thoughts from earlier today. Hope was still focused, and then she sighed. "I lost you."

"That's better! Here, let's go again."

And so we worked all day, even after dinner. And the next day after that. Whenever she noticed me, she would alert me. Hope steadily got better, and my control got better along with her. Not only did I realize I could read her memories, I could read her very personality. The deepest part of her memories were insane: it was like I could read the hard-wiring of her brain. But she told me it hurt when I was reading that, so I stayed out.

It got me thinking though. In all the movies and TV shows, never had I watched anyone be able to read a soul, even though that's what it felt like I was doing.

I continued pondering this, two days later at dinner. Mom and Dad were finally sitting down after getting Hope and I our plates while Mom was focused on the news.

"The Hulk continues to cause havoc in the northern part of Washington, destroying miles of forest the more we provoke him. We'll keep you updated as the story progresses."

Mom turned the channel off, cutting the newscaster off before he could continue. She sighed, sitting down. "They just need to leave the poor thing alone."

Dad grunted, biting into his steak. "I dunno. Seems to me like they should kill him."

"But you can't kill the Hulk, Dad."

Everyone stopped, staring at me. I looked around at them, and Hope asked, "What are you talking about?"

"Dad said he thought they should kill the Hulk." I told her, genuinely confused.

"Dad's mouth is full of steak, sweetie, he can't say anything." Mom said, giving me a small smile and starting to pick at her own food. Dad swallowed and said, "I agree with you though. I wish we could kill him, but we can't. Something about that gamma-infested body of his just won't die."

I frowned, looking down at my food. Hadn't he said that?

_My father used to do Gamma radiation research before he died._

I dropped my fork, earning a look from my mother while she made small talk with my sister about her grades. Sheepishly, I picked it back up, glancing across the table to Hope. That wasn't her voice I had just heard.

_Shame he and my little brother died before the old man could crack the code._

Oh no. No way. No way! I was in Dad's head!

 _HOPE!_ I shouted into Hope's mind, making her twitch. _Hope, I'm reading Dad's mind right now!_

Then, just as I was waiting for a response from her, I felt another presence along with her and Dad's.

Mom?

_I wonder what's up with Eric and Hope. They've been acting strange lately._

Oh no way, this was so sick! I could read my parent's minds! I pressed into both of them, and they continued their conversation, oblivious that I could hear what they were really thinking. This was insane.

_Poor Bruce. He didn't need to die. I feel like he could have helped this Hulk fella._

I tried to eat as quickly as possible, eyes wide as I began connecting what I had learned from TV interviews and documentaries with what my dad was thinking.

This documentary I had watched was an intimate interview with some of the government's leading people in the field of mutants. They had stated that the Hulk used to be normal, but was turned into the Hulk from extreme radiation and some big, traumatic event. The man's name had been Bruce, but they never said a last name.

Bruce.

Gamma radiation.

"Oh my God."

"Eric!" 

I looked to my mom, who frowned at me. "Say gosh. Don't take the Lord's name in vain."

I glanced down at my plate, blushing. I didn't meant to say anything out loud. "Sorry, Mom." Then I looked to Hope. "May I be excused? I need to look at something in the backyard for science class."

Annoyed, my mom sighed. "I suppose. Take your plate over." I rushed to do so, flying out into the backyard so I could close my eyes and concentrate and not have to worry about them staring at me. I sat on the big boulder, eyes squeezed tightly shut as I searched through my dad's brain for more about his brother. I never knew he had a brother. I had to learn more about him, I had to learn if he really was the Hulk. He never told us about him. We knew he had a dad that died when he was really young. But, as I searched through his mind, I realized why exactly he had never told us the whole story.

One time, his father had come home drunk and in a rage. I shivered at this memory, forcing myself to watch it all the way through. He watched as his father took his mother into the living room, arguing, then pulling out a gun and shooting her in front of his children. Dad struggled to keep ahold of his little brother Bruce, but his dad took him into a separate room. There was a lot of shouting, and then a large growl, and a gunshot. Dad turned and ran, sprinting out of the house and down the block, crying as he heard the third and final gunshot, followed by a massive roar in his ears.

I gasped as I came out of the memory, tumbling forward off of the rock. Tears were coming from my own eyes, and I could barely find the air to breathe.

"Eric?" I heard Hope's voice calling, concerned, but I couldn't move.

 _Help._ I whispered pitifully into her mind, still trembling against the rock with my back pressed against it. She came running around the rock, falling to her knees and throwing her arms around me. I leaned against her, sobbing. That was so horrible. How could someone do something like that?

"Eric, what's wrong?" She asked quietly. I took a shaky breath, attempting to get my breathing under control.

"Dad…Dad used to have a b-brother." I stuttered. I sniffed grossly, and Hope backed away to watch me as I spoke. "He had a little brother. Remember how he said his parents died in an accident? They didn't. His dad was drunk and killed the whole family, then shot himself." I shook my head, barely believing the words that came out of my mouth. Hope sat next to me, staring at the grass between us as she leaned against the boulder.

"Is that why he never told us?"

I nodded. "Yeah. He wanted to save us from the story. I think it was more of him not wanting to tell the story." I shivered. "It was terrible. I almost wish I didn't see it."

"Why were you trying to read his mind anyways?"

Then my head snapped up, and I looked over at her. "Remember how our grandpa was a scientist? I think he worked with gamma radiation. And he experimented on Dad's little brother. That's another reason he didn't tell us about him. Dad's brother--Bruce--was really messed up because of the radiation."

Then it dawned on me. "Dad's brother didn't really die. Because he couldn't." Hope stared at me, confused.

"Okay. So he was chock full of gamma radiation when his father came home and killed his mother. He gets angry, and then he feels threatened when his dad tries to kill him. So when his Dad tries to threaten him, he gets angry…and he's the Hulk. That's what the growl was in the memory. And the roar. He wasn't just hearing things, he was hearing the Hulk! He doesn't know his brother is alive!" I turned to Hope, buzzing with excitement.

"Are you saying the Hulk is our uncle?" She asked, narrowing her eyes. I nodded quickly, and she smiled. "Well that explains why you're so messed up."

I shoved her, then leaned back onto the rock as I laughed. This was crazy. Maybe I got the mutant gene because of gamma radiation or something. I'd have to watch some more documentaries to figure this out.

"We shouldn't tell Dad." Hope finally said, and I looked at her.

"Why not?"

"Well, if he's gone all this time believing his brother's been dead, imagine how he'd feel if he found out his brother was a monster."

I sat for a minute, pondering. If Hope was shot by my own Dad, and I found out thirty-some years later that she was a monster destroying forests, I'd probably freak. It wouldn't be a healthy feeling, to say the least.

"Yeah, I guess." I looked out over our backyard, watching the sun set by the small creek we had before the forest met our yard. "Our secret then, along with my powers. I don't want them to think any differently of me, especially if Dad thinks they should kill the Hulk. Who knows how he feels about mind readers?"

Hope nodded, then leaned her head on my shoulder. "You know how I feel."

I laughed as I felt the warmth of her love radiating off of her. "Ew, gross."

She shoved me again, and we laughed. Now that I could read our parent's minds, who knows who else I'd be able to read? Maybe I'd finally be able to prove I was worth something.


	4. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's some foreshadowing.

One week and four days later, I was in the library with Hope and her friends again. My best friend, Aaron, sat beside me, hopelessly hitting on Hope's friends. He was a helpless flirt, basically hitting on everything that breathed. 

"Come on, Jessie, just one!" He pleaded, gazing at the bag of goldfish crackers in her hand.

She simply laughed at him. "Aaron, you've already had half the bag!"

He shrugged, playful grin returning to his face that so many of the girls at our school were in love with. "Can you blame a man for trying?"

We weren't exactly the popular kids, but we weren't nobodies, either. Hope's excellence in sports had made her popular with the guys in elementary school, and I was the class clown, so obviously girls loved me. At least, that's what I had gotten from Hope, I never gave it too much thought. And they liked my hair? I don't know, I'll never understand girls.

"We can blame you when you try every five minutes." Hope snorted, working on her homework while keeping an ear on the conversation. Her friends giggled and Aaron turned to smile at her. I listened to her thoughts, smiling. She was focusing more on Aaron than on her book report. It was weird, he had been over to our house countless times before, and she had hung out with us. So why suddenly was it so different?

_Maybe if Hope wasn't Eric's sister I'd actually have a chance._

The juice box fell out of my hands, earning a squeal from Alyssa, whose shoes it landed on. 

"Sorry!" I said, eyes wide. I picked it up then turned back to Aaron, holding my breath, waiting. 

_What a freakin' klutz._

No way. No way, no WAY!

 _Hope!_ I practically shouted into her mind, making her frown as she continued watching her paper.

_What, Eric? I'm doing homework._

_Eric's cute._

_Those were my new shoes!_

_Why can't she even look at me? Do I smell weird?_

My mouth dropped open, and I choked out, "Hope, can you help me find a book?" She glanced at me, as if she were going to respond by thinking, then realized I had spoken out loud. 

"Oh, yeah." She stood, and I practically ran over to the bookshelves, wringing my hands together while I waited for her to catch up.

"What's so important you couldn't just tell me in my head?" She asked, slightly annoyed at being pulled away from the group. I ignored the fact that she mostly didn't want to be away from Aaron, and told her, "I can read their minds."

"What? Whose?"

"All of them. Our friends. I was hearing all of their thoughts."

Hope stared at me, mouth dropping open just as mine had. "What? No way. You really are a mind reader!"

"Shh!" I said, glancing to our friends, then pulling her deeper into the shelves. "Okay, yeah, I was. Holy crap. Hope, I can read their minds. They were all thinking things, and I was hearing them." I paused, thinking. "Do you think I can control it around them like I can with you?"

Hope gave me a small smile, brushing her hair behind her ear. "What…what was Aaron thinking about?"

I laughed, "Hope, no. I'm not ruining the surprise."

"Aw, come on, Eric!"

"No, Hope!" I laughed again. "Come on, I wanna go listen. But hey," I stopped her, smirking. "Don't be afraid to look at him and smile. You know, he is my friend. You're allowed to smile at him." She stuck her tongue out at me, but I felt the excitement coming from her as she hurried back to her seat.

"Couldn't find the book?" Mary asked quietly, and I smiled as I sat down. 

"Nah, remembered I didn't want to read it." She blushed slightly and looked back to her homework laying on the table in front of her. Jessie, next to her, giggled, and I pressed into her mind gently, seeing if I could hear anything like I could before.

Jessie wasn't exactly smart, at least not like Hope's other friends. She was your average, run of the mill blonde. So I figured she'd be the easiest to look into. I pressed in, diverging myself into her thoughts.

Diverging? I don't think that's the right word. I'll have to listen to Hope use it again sometime. She was better with vocabulary. But I was learning!

Anyways, I was listening, and then her thoughts popped up easily. There were almost too many to keep up with. Like I had suspected, she was nowhere near the education level that Hope and Mary were at, maybe even a couple steps behind me. But she sounded genuinely nice in her thoughts, so I pressed deeper. Her mom was like her, her family a cookie cutter picture of perfect on the surface. Made sense, the mayor was her dad. He'd have to have a great family life so the public would like him more.

But, after a couple minutes, I was bored of Jessica. So then I left her mind and pressed into Alyssa's. She was nice, although a bit shallow at times. She was definitely just friends with Hope because of the boys that liked her, but Hope knew that anyways. Alyssa was in my level of classes, but a higher English class. So she was kinda average as well.

_Why is he staring at Alyssa?_

I glanced at Aaron, who quickly looked away. I looked back to Hope, who was clearly frowning at me. Oops, guess I had been staring.

 _What are you doing?_ She asked, returning to her book report.

_Reading your friend's mind. Did you know the mayor's cheating on his wife?_

She smirked. _He's a politician, I wouldn't expect any less._

I frowned, looking down at the blank paper in front of me. _Oh. Thought I had something cool to tell you._

_Read Mary's mind, then. She's smart._

I looked over at Hope, who was smirking. _Oh, so now you're telling me to read your friend's minds? But I can't read yours?_

_Shut up, Eric._

I smiled, then looked down at my paper while I reached out my mind until I felt Mary's. She was quieter than all of our friends combined, though she was just as smart as Hope. I pressed deeper, sifting through her thoughts. There wasn't anything super special, but she was really focused on her future. In fact, she already had most of it planned out through college even though we had just started middle school. And then, down in the center of every other secret, I found what I had really wanted to know.

Mary liked me.

I smiled to myself, glancing up at her as her thoughts revolved around my head. She liked me, she really did. Of course, I couldn't act on this, how would I explain it? So I pulled back out, leaning back while Aaron continued to hit on Hope and her friends. Maybe this thing, powers or mutation or whatever this is, could be used for the better.

\- - - - - 

"Eric, are you sure about this?"

I nodded, smiling at Hope as I stood outside of the Dean's office a week later. "Come on, I can finally be in all those classes with you."

She frowned. "I don't know…this kind of feels like cheating."

I shook my head with a short laugh. "This isn't cheating, it's being resourceful." I gave her one more pat on the shoulder. "It'll be fine. Trust me."

She gave a slow nod and a half smile, which was enough for me. With another wave, I turned and went inside the office, a little nervous. Hope was just outside, so I'd be able to each her mind with ease, but what if she didn't know the answers to this? I shook it off, having faith in my sister. I mean, there's obviously going to be stuff she didn't know. I just wanted to prove to everyone else I could keep up and be just as smart as them.

I was sat in a desk in the corner of the detention room, with a teacher watching over me. Except they weren't really watching, they were grading tests. In fact, I think that was the test Hope had taken just a couple days ago.

They gave me the placement test, and I glanced through it. There were four categories: English, math, science, and history. I opened up to the first page and immediately groaned inwardly. Of course math was first. Thank God I had Hope. I pressed gently into her mind, and I felt her recognize my presence.

_What do you have first?_

_Math._ I replied simply, already going straight into her knowledge on this subject. Minds were actually surprisingly easy to navigate, especially now since I was used to going through it. Hope kept wanting me to practice so she could get used to the feeling, so I had ready access to practicing day and night. On top of that, I could read my parents minds. I'd gotten used to reading my friends as well and found myself getting along better with them. It was so much easier to make people happy when you could see what they were really feeling and tell them what they wanted to hear. 

_Good luck._ Hope thought quietly, focusing once again on her book report. I found her math skills and breezed through the test, finding the problems simple. She definitely belonged a level higher in math than the one she was in.

English went the same way, Hope was great with words. She had always loved reading and writing, so that test was definitely one of my better ones. 

Science was a bit harder. Both of us struggled in it, but since Hope could actually read the problems, she was able to solve them and get good grades. Ugh, the science teacher would probably be the one to grade this when I was done. Wouldn't it be sweet if I did amazing and blew him away?

_Poor kid's dyslexic. He's just hurting himself doing these tests. I'm hurting myself just watching him struggle._

I jumped, pencil flying out of my hand. This had to stop happening, otherwise I'd have a heart attack before I even got my license. The teacher gave me a sympathetic smile as I leaned down to pick it back up. Could I read his mind as well?

Closing my eyes, I expanded my spirit outwards, and suddenly I felt hundreds of minds, all throughout the building. Not only could I read just my family and friend's, I could read everyone's minds. Hope is gonna freak when she finds out.

Moving quickly, I slid easily into the teacher's mind, using his knowledge to complete his test within fifteen minutes. Down the hall, I found the history teacher, and I was able to use him for the history portion. I sat back in my chair, eyes wide and letting out an impressed sigh. I had just finished the placement test in just under an hour, where it had taken me nearly two the last time.

"I'm done." I announced, smiling up at the science teacher, who frowned at me.

"Finished? Already?"

"Yes sir!" I replied, standing and gathering my things. "Let me know when it's graded, right? I think we'll all be excited to hear these results." With that, I turned and walked out of the office, nudging Hope when I was outside. Behind us, I could hear the teacher talking to the dean, and the surprise was radiating off of him in waves. She looked up at me, startled.

"You're done? Already?"

I rolled my eyes. "Why is everyone so surprised?"

"Maybe because it took even me over an hour." Hope replied, standing to follow me as I walked down the hallway. "Eric, you've gotta be careful. If you start being too good at things, people are going to be suspicious."

I shrugged it off. "Don't worry, I'll know if they're suspicious."

She snorted, following me out the front doors. "What, can you read their minds too, now?"

"Yupp!"

Hope grabbed my arm, stopping me and making me look at her. "Wait, you're serious?"

"Happened during the test!" I told her, smile growing on my face. "I can read anyone I want to now!"

Hope just stared at me, and I pushed gently into her mind.

"Eric, stop. If you want to know what I'm thinking, just ask." She said, crossing her arms in front of her. "I'm worried, Eric. I'm worried about you. These are big time abilities. We're talking, like, superheroes or whatever is in those news stories you watch all the time."

"Maybe I'm a superhero then! I just have to get stronger and work out or something."

"The day you work out is the day I kiss Aaron." Hope said sarcastically, and she turned to continue to walk to our mom's waiting mini van. I smiled to myself, following her. Maybe that day would come sooner than she expected.

"Want me to suggest it to him?"

"I'm going to kill you!"

"Ah, but I'll see it coming!"

She turned to glare at me. "Eric, if anyone in this world gets the pleasure of killing you, it will be me. Mark my words." Then she whipped back around, hair catching up a second later. "You may be able to read minds, but I can beat you up any day of the week! Just watch me!"


	5. Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eric's kind of smart, now.

"Eighth grade?"

My parents and I all stared in disbelief at the dean, mouths hanging wide open as we processed what he had just told us. 

"You want to put Eric in the eighth grade classes?" My father repeated, sitting forward. "But, he's…" He stared at me, at a loss for words. I couldn't blame him, I was just as surprised. I mean, I knew I had done good on the test a week ago, but not that good.

The dean nodded, smiling. "Your son retook the placement tests last week, and he excelled in every subject. We want to move him up a grade, seeing as his knowledge is already to that level."

"I'm still going to this school, right?" I asked, nervous. Would I even see my friends anymore? Would I see Hope?

"Yes, of course." The dean smiled warmly, leaning back in his chair. "You'll just be in eighth grade instead of seventh. Your locker and homeroom will remain the same, you’ll just be given an all-new schedule.” The dean went on to continue to explain this process and the other changes to my parents, who were both sitting in shock. They hadn’t even known I was retaking the test until the night after I did. As we left, they both congratulated me, and I went immediately to find Hope. I searched for her with my mind, found her in the library with our friends, and I burst in, nearly out of breath.

“They’re moving me up to eighth grade.”

Everyone turned to stare up at me, and Hope was the first one to speak. “What did you say?”

“Yeah!” I sighed happily, running my hand through my hair. “I guess I did so good on those placement tests that they’re moving me up a grade.”

“But you suck at everything!” Aaron argued, and our other friend, Evan, laughed. I stuck my tongue out at him, and Hope spoke again. 

“But…how?” She watched me carefully, then I saw her eyes widen slightly as she thought about it. _Oh, Eric._ She said in her head. _Eric, that’s cheating! You weren’t supposed to do that good!_

I stared back at her, gaze hard. Before I could respond, Chris asked, “So what does this mean? Like, you’re in eighth grade classes?”

I nodded, basically restating everything the dean told me. While I discussed this with my friends, Hope continued watching me with narrowed eyes. The anger was radiating out of her mind, along with jealousy. Why couldn’t she be happy for me just one time? I was finally doing good! Mom and Dad were so impressed with me! That hasn’t happened since third grade art class! She was sitting there, so smug in her new beanie. Our uncle had gotten her a flannel and beanie for our birthday and she loved them. I wish I could just rip that hat off of her jealous little head—

Mary and Evan gasped audibly as Hope’s hat flew backwards off of her head, smacking into the bookcase behind her. In silence, we all watched the hat wide-eyed, seeing if it’d move again.

“Is the school haunted?” Aaron whispered while the sounds from school echoed around us. Everyone looked to each other, mumbling rumors they’d heard of ghosts interacting with students, but Hope and I knew what had really happened. She turned to me, gray eyes sharp enough to cut diamond.

_We’re having a thorough discussion as soon as we get home, Eric._

I gulped, nodding slowly. How was that even possible? If I wasn’t careful, I’d end up on the X Files before I knew it.

\- - - - - 

“Eric! You’ve gotta be more careful!”

I sat on my bed, staring at my fingers and listening to Hope scream at me. Mom and Dad weren’t able to hear us, I checked.

“You can’t just go around moving objects and reading everyone’s minds!” She shouted. “Obviously your powers are getting stronger, so you’re gonna be able to do more things. You’ve just gotta be careful, Eric. Don’t use them around other people, and don’t make other things happen just so you can be better. You still have to fit the mold, in case you’ve forgotten. We can’t tell anyone what you can do, and our friends are gonna get suspicious if you keep saying what they’re thinking out loud just so they’ll like you more than me.” She spun around, crossing her arms while she continued pacing in front of me. “I know Alyssa is starting to wonder what’s going on with you, so you know she’ll start gossiping to Jessie and it’s all just going to go downhill from there. So you’ve gotta start cleaning up your tracks.” Her head snapped up, eyes wide. “Clean up after yourself. Oh my god, Eric. Do you think you can take memories out of people’s minds?”

I stared at her, mouth open. “Are you shitting me?”

“Watch your mouth!” 

“Sorry.” I took my hands out of my lap. “The eighth graders and adults cuss a lot more in their heads, I forget sometimes. But are you really suggesting that I change people’s memories?”

She shrugged, sitting at a desk chair. “Well, yeah. If it’d help keep you and your abilities safe.”

“Hope, that’s wrong.” I shook my head. “You can’t go around just messing with people. Tricks and passing a math test is one thing, deleting and altering memories is completely different.”

“But if it’s keeping you safe—“

“I won’t hurt other people to keep me safe!” I shouted, fed up with Hope’s moral rant. “Is me being safe really what you’re concerned about here?”

Hope glared at me. “What do you mean?”

“Well it seems like you’re yelling at me out of something other than concern for your dear brother.” I replied in a snide tone, narrowing my eyes. “It seems like you don’t want me using my powers at all.”

“That’s not true! I just—“

“Shut up, Hope! You’ve been nothing but jealous ever since our friends have started talking to me more than you! They’re paying attention to the things I say and what I think and you’re jealous because they used to always listen to you!”

“That’s not true!” Hope shouted, standing up. “But the only reason they like what you say is because you’re reading their minds!”

“Is it so wrong to be able to actually have people like me for once?” I yelled, standing up on the bed, staring down at Hope. “Is it so wrong that I want my friends to like what I have to say?” 

“Oh, so you can make people like you, but you won’t make them forget that you’re a freaking mutant?” Hope raised her hand, about to start yelling again, but our door burst open and our parents stood there, staring at us.

“What the hell is going on in here?” My father shouted, looking back and forth between us. Hope and I looked at each other, then back to him. Quietly, Hope told me, “I think now would be a good time to practice erasing memories.

“What was that?” Mom asked, stepping into the room beside our dad. My eyes widened as I looked down at Hope. 

“Are you serious?” I hissed. She looked back up to me, “They heard what we were screaming, Eric. You need to erase it. They can’t know.”

“We can’t know what now?” Dad put his hands on his hips, obviously angry. I stared at them for a moment, swallowing hard, then looked back to Hope, shaking my head.

“Hope, I don’t know if I can. It’s wrong.”

“Eric, you’ve got to!” 

“What does he need to do?” Mom raised her voice, trying to cut through our argument.

“I don’t know…” I looked over to Mom and Dad again, biting my lip. Would it hurt them? Was this even within my ability to erase a memory? I mean, I could read thoughts and memories and move things with my mind now, but could I erase something they’d heard?

“Eric, what are you looking at us like that for?” My mom asked quietly, and I closed my eyes, gently probing into her mind. She had heard Hope say I was a mutant, and I checked in my father’s head only to find out that he had heard as well. Taking a deep breath, I focused on the memory, getting it solidly in my focus. What was I even looking to do? Delete it? It’s not like their was an instruction manual on which button to press. So I focused on it again, ignoring my mom’s questions. Grimacing, I imagined erasing it. Slowly, bit by bit with an eraser, I pictured the conversation our mother and father overheard while listening outside our door. Vaguely, I heard Hope whisper, “Oh my God…” but I ignored it, moving on to my mother instead. With one final swipe, the memory was gone, and I opened my eyes, letting out the breath I had been holding.

I looked at them, standing before me, wide eyed and unmoving. I watched them, breathing heavily. Was I so worn out because of what I had done?

“Are they okay?” I asked, and Hope shook her head, choking out, “They’ve been like that for five minutes.”

“Five minutes?” I asked, then looked to the clock on Hope’s desk. To my surprise, it had actually been nearly seven minutes since I began erasing the memories. I looked back to my parents, who still hadn’t moved from their empty stances. 

“What did you do?” Hope asked, walking over to them. “They aren’t moving at all! They aren’t even blinking!”

“I thought I just erased their memories!” I said, hopping off of the bed, finally catching my breath. I reached into their minds, and felt an emptiness that scared me. “I think I just made them completely forget the past ten minutes. Do I need to give them something since I took something away?”

“Maybe you took too much.” Hope scratched her head. “Maybe try and tell them that they’re busy watching something downstairs…?”

“So first I took memories away, and now I’m going to put some back in?” I shook my head. This was starting to sound more like mind control than simple telepathy. Honestly, I was kind of scaring myself. But no matter what, I had to fix my parents. Their stares were starting to creep me out. I closed my eyes, settling in my dad’s mind first. I imagined the scene that happened downstairs. They were watching TV, he had put his arm around her, they were having a pleasant time and hadn’t heard anything unusual coming from upstairs. I did the same to my mom, planting the memory in her head. To my astonishment, it was readily accepted into the blank spots where I had previously deleted the yelling. I opened my eyes, and saw my parents blink a few times.

“Make them go back downstairs.” Hope whispered, “Maybe that’ll help make them less confused when they wake up.”

I stared at her, but she made a face at me, so I turned to my parents again, getting into their heads. “Uh, go back downstairs and sit on the couch.” For effect, I did the little jedi wave that Obi-Wan always did in the movies. I felt something click in their heads, and they turned and walked downstairs. Hope and I watched them go, relaxing as we heard them sit on the couch and start talking again. I did a quick check to make sure everything was normal in their heads, then slumped down on the floor, exhausted.

“Holy crap, Eric!” Hope jumped up and down around me, closing our door before she squealed. “Eric! That’s so sick! We need to make a list right now. Okay, so telepathy, telekinesis, deleting memories and adding new ones, mind compulsion…”

I listened to her go on, trying to calm down my breathing. Okay, so obviously I had to use my powers more in order to get used to doing it. It was like a workout. Yeah, like a mental workout. So the more I used it, the stronger I would get, and the better I could be. A smile spread across my face as I imagined what I could do. Now that I could move things with my mind, I could be unstoppable! Then I remembered all of those movies and TV shows I had watched where the guy who was too powerful got greedy and ended up hurting a bunch of people. 

Maybe I should watch those again, figure out what they did wrong so that I could be sure I didn’t hurt anyone. I glanced over to Hope, who was excitedly making plans for our future. I’d have to be the moral compass for both of us, and just hope I didn’t make the wrong decision.


	6. Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope joins the party.

“He could erase memories?” Johnny interrupted, eyes wide. In all honesty, Hope was surprised that he had remained that quiet for so long. Smiling at the irony, she nodded, “Yeah. He could erase memories.”

“That’s so crazy…” Johnny whispered in wonder, looking out at the water again. “And moving things with your mind? God, that’d be so cool if I could do that.”

Again, Hope smiled, watching as she untied Johnny’s sneaker. “Yeah, I bet you do. Probably for the best that’s not one of your abilities though.” Johnny grinned at her, nodding in agreement.

“Yeah, yeah.” He looked down at his shoes, frowning. “But—what about you?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you.” Johnny shrugged, waving his hand for emphasis. “All you’ve told me so far is about Eric’s powers. And not that they aren’t cool or anything, but I kind of wanna hear more about you.”

“Smooth, Storm.” She smiled, leaning forward and pointing at his shoelaces. They watched as they began to lace themselves back together, and Hope continued, ignoring Johnny’s surprised look. “Well, my powers took a bit longer, I suppose. Guess that just made it all the more special when they finally appeared…”

\- - - - -

The next four months passed by without incident. Every day, I was working on my abilities, practicing so I would become better at using them. I could feel myself getting stronger and smarter, and was soon able to read memories with ease. Moving things with my mind was hard at first, but one time I was able to lift the couch for a whole three minutes! Hope was freaked out by it, but got used to it the more I did it. I lifted her and myself into the air, I lifted our kitchen table, and I even moved the car a couple inches. The more I practiced, the better I got, and I couldn’t wait to see what all I could do.

Reading minds was the easiest. Nobody ever expected a mind-reader would be around them, so they never had their guards up. That’s the exact reason why I worked so often with Hope. If there was someone around who wanted to hurt me (which always happens in the movies because I’m the powerful one) then I wanted her to be protected. Soon, she was able to block me out, unless I tried really hard.

That’s probably why I hadn’t seen it coming.

 

\- - - - -

“Ugh, Mom! That’s not the point!” Hope yelled, spinning around in the kitchen to face her. “How come everyone else can spend the night?”

“Honey, I doubt their parents are okay with boys and girls spending the night.” Our mom answered, nose wrinkling slightly. “It’s just not in good taste.”

“Like their parents even care, they probably won’t be there!” Hope argued, then her eyes widened as she realized what she said probably didn’t help her case. “I mean, they will, but like, upstairs.”

“Are you sure their parents will be there?” Mom asked, and Hope groaned.

 _Want me to make her let you go?_ I asked gently, and Hope pointed an angry finger at me. 

“Don’t get involved in this, Eric!” Hope turned back around, ignoring Mom’s confused look. “Look, I’m mature. Eric’s in stupid eighth grade, I should be allowed to have a sleepover with my friends!”

“Honey, you’re 13,” Mom responded, “And I won’t have my 13 year old going over to a house with no supervision!”

Hope groaned again, then shouted, “Everything sucks!” And went running out the back door to Mom yelling after her, “Hope, language!”

I gave Mom a sympathetic smile, then followed after Hope into the backyard. She was leaned on the rock at the back of the yard, arms crossed. I could practically see the anger seeping out of her. I walked up behind her carefully, unsure of the nicest way to tell her that this was a stupid thing to get mad over.

“Hope…?” I asked carefully, watching as she flinched at my voice.

“Go away, Eric.” She grumbled, turning further away from me.

“Come on, Hope.” I paused, trying to figure out what to say. “Is it really that big of a deal?”

Hope stiffened, and immediately I knew I said the wrong thing. She turned to me, eyes narrowed. I took a step back, scared. Maybe it was just the sun setting, but her eyes kind of looked red to me. 

“Is it that—Eric! Mom’s not letting me go to a sleepover! Do you realize how ridiculous that is?” She screamed, making a bird in the nearby bush fly away. “It’s a sleepover! What the hell does she think will happen? It’s a bunch of middle schoolers!”

“Maybe that’s it.” I shrugged, still eyeing her carefully. “It is a bunch of middle schoolers.”

“Oh, so you’re taking her side?”

“Hope, dude, why are you so angry?” I asked. “You usually don’t get mad about stuff like this.”

“I dunno, maybe it’s because I get treated like I’m a baby?” She shouted back at me, and I swore the light in her eyes got brighter. “I’m just sick of being treated like I’m so stupid!” She swung her hands away from herself, and both of us screamed at the flash of light that appeared behind her. Scared, we both turned and looked around the side of the rock, and my mouth dropped open.

“Hope, what the hell.”

“Why are you asking me?” She shrieked, then pointed at the bush. “I didn’t do it!” More flames sprung from her hands and we screamed again, jumping backwards as the sparks disappeared into the air. We froze, both of us staring at her hand.

“Um.” I started, and Hope nodded. “Yeah, okay. So maybe it was me.”

“Well, the bush is kind of still on fire.” I squeaked, looking upwards. “Maybe you can stop it?”

“How?” Hope wheezed, eyes now back to their normal grey. “I have no idea how I did it!”

“Maybe it had to do with you being angry.” I started slowly, watching her. “Like, you were angry and yelling, so you did fire. Maybe if you act calm, it’ll go away?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Eric, that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Do we have any other options?” I asked, and she frowned. “No, I guess not.”

“Okay, so, please get rid of the fire before everything around it catches.” I told her, then frowned, turning to look at the garden. Why hadn’t anything else caught yet?

Hope took a deep breath, closing her eyes. “Calm. I can do calm.” I smirked, and she turned to frown at me. “Shut up, I can be calm.” I raised my hands in surrender, and she rolled her eyes before turning back to the bush. She raised her hands slowly, then waved them around a bit.

“Um, go away fire!” She said, still moving her hands. Noticing when it didn’t go down at all, her eyes got wider and I watched in curiosity as her eyes slowly grew more blue the longer she focused. What the hell was happening?

Hope took another deep breath, then as she let it out, water flew from her palms, smothering the fire. We were frozen, watching as the water drowned the fire out, leaving nothing but a smoking bare bush. Hope let her hands down slowly, turning to look at me.

“I…” I shook my head. “Honestly, I have no idea. I don’t know. Holy crap.”

Hope readjusted the beanie on her head, letting out a shaky breath. “Yeah. So, I guess there’s that.”

I laughed, the sentence sounding ridiculous in the silence that had followed. Hope started laughing too, quietly at first, and then in loud gasps that echoed around the backyard. She grabbed my shoulder, tears in her eyes from laughing so hard.

 _What the hell just happened?_ She asked in our heads, laughing too hard to speak.

 _We’re both mutants, that’s what happened!_ I responded, hugging her. She laughed louder at that, imagining how Mom and Dad would react if we told them. We walked inside, Hope going to look stuff up online about her powers. I sat on our bed, listening to what she was reading. Honestly, I was the most curious about her eyes. Why had they changed color like that?

\- - - - -

"So according to this site, apparently yoga helps. Like, with controlling your moods."

I groaned, putting a pillow over my head. Hope had not shut up for the past week while she "researched" her powers. Who wanted to read a boring old website about not setting things on fire? Like, it's not that hard to figure out. Just don't set things on fire.

"Certain positions are more for meditating rather than controlling it." Hope continued, ignoring how much I did not want to listen to her. "So, like, those would probably be better for water, since that's a calm one, right?"

"Why don't you ask the website?" I responded snidely, watching in satisfaction as she turned around to glare at me. I dropped my smile, "Uh, Hope? Desk." She turned around, gasping as the paper beside the computer was smoking. Taking a deep breath, she set her hand down on it, resulting in a sizzling noise, then--

"Oh, gross. Now everything's wet." She frowned, turning to look at me. I sighed, finally getting off the bed.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get the towels. Try not to be so calm next time, yeah?" I was hit in the head by something damp, and I grimaced as I pulled the wet paper off the back of my neck. Alright, so maybe I deserved that one.

While I mopped up the water that had dripped onto the floor, Hope began transferring her notes to a dry notebook. "So basically, I just need to learn how to control it. This website is saying that if I can control my moods, then the powers will begin to be easier to control, too. Maybe I just need practice like you do."

"I'm not doing yoga with you."

"That's not--" Hope frowned down at me. "Not fair. I help you with your mind stuff all the time. The least you can do is be supportive of me."

"I am supportive!" I told her, sitting back on my heels. "I just don't think yoga is the solution to all your problems."

"Well, the website says meditation is great for any kind of mutant, no matter what power they have. So--"

"Shut up." I told her, clambering up to look at the computer. "The website actually talks about mutants?" I frowned, struggling to read the words on the screen.

"Duh." Hope told me, scrolling up to the top of the page so she could point at the banner. "That's why I've been taking notes. It's got tons of helpful tips for people just finding their powers. It's even got stuff in here for telepaths, like you."

"What's that guy's name?" I asked, pointing to the portrait of a young man on the side of the screen. "Is he the author?"

"Yeah, that's him." Hope said, leaning forward to read it. "Hank McCoy. Says he's part of the government, working to help mutants across the world find peace." She snorted. "He sounds cheesy, but honestly all this advice sounds so great."

"Isn't he kinda young?" I asked, looking again at his picture. "That picture looks like he's only 20."

Hope shrugged, scrolling back down to where she had been before. "Who cares? As long as it's helping me, I don't care who's saying it." She went back to writing notes, and I continued to try and read the page.

"That down there...events? What does that mean?"

"Um," She paused, looking at it. "It says upcoming appearances. Apparently he's going around the country to give conferences to people looking to be allies for mutants. It will provide...helpful information, tips, and anecdotes about helping mutants," she read. "Look! He's going to be in Seattle in a couple months!" She looked up to me, a huge smile. "Do you think Mom and Dad would let us go?"

I frowned, reaching with my mind downstairs to where Mom was cooking dinner. "Doubtful. They don't even want you going to a sleepover. I'll probably have to do the convincey thing."

Hope rolled her eyes. "We need to come up with a better name than 'convincey thing' for that." She turned back to the screen, eyes skimming quickly over the screen. "I mean, all the information is here, we'll just have to find a way there. I'm sure you could get us in." She leaned back in her chair, tapping her pencil thoughtfully. "It'd be so great to talk to someone about this. Maybe we could even meet him!"

I turned to go back to the bed, letting Hope ramble on. While I doubted someone like him would want to talk to someone like us, it would be kind of good to have someone we could ask questions about all of this. 

"Shoot!"

I closed my eyes, ignoring the smell of smoke. It'd also be nice to ask someone about how to fire-proof everything you owned.

\- - - - -

"Okay, just like we talked about." I told Hope, watching with extreme focus. She nodded solemnly, hand reaching out to point at the creek in the park we were at. With a deep breath in, the water began to raise up in a single tendril, slowly rising up in what looked like a rope. Hope moved her arm slowly, keeping her feet planted in what I could only guess was some sort of yoga position. The water swirled through the air, coming towards me before shooting down--and landing perfectly into the pitcher.

"Yes!" I shouted, jumping up. "Yes! We can make unlimited Kool-Aid!" I high-fived Hope, turning back to the pitcher. "You're so much better than you were a month ago."

"Yeah, I guess." Hope asked, stretching her arm a bit. "I'm just glad things finally stopped catching on fire. Even I was getting annoyed with how many times the fire alarm went off at school."

I laughed out loud, pouring the pitcher back into the stream. "The principal was so pissed when they couldn't find where the fire had been, that was hilarious." Hope shrugged, sitting back down on the rock. I sat next to her, watching as she made the water jump up into different shapes as it flowed downstream.

"Is it the yoga?" I asked, throwing a rock to break up the shapes. She frowned at me, but answered anyways.

"Dunno. I think it definitely helps with controlling them. Hasn't done much to help my temper, though." She finished threateningly, glaring at me as I threw another rock into the little water dolphin that was in the air. I grinned, grabbing a rather large pebble to throw into it again. It hit the water and made the droplets fly everywhere, the rest of the watery shape falling back down into the creek. She made another one, an angry looking cat, and just as I let another rock fly, she grabbed my wrist tightly, "Eric, cut it out!"

I flinched, fully expecting her touch to burn as it so often did nowadays. Instead, both of us watched in surprise as the rock in the air shattered, pieces flying everywhere. The water cat disappeared, both of us too shocked to care.

"Did you do that?" Hope asked me, and I shook my head, turning to look at her.

"I think you did." I pressed into her mind, following along the parts of her brain that were active right now. Fear was a big one, which was understandable. I mean, who can shatter rock just by yelling at their brother?

"Is there anything?" She asked quietly, and my eyes widened as I found it.

"Holy crap, Hope."

In her mind, I was sitting at the edge of a crater, looking down into the gaping hole. 

You see, each person's mind is set up differently, with each brain using a different filing pattern, of sorts. A lot of left-brained people had minds set up like an office, with tons of filing cabinets and shelves. Right-brained people tended to have kind of a cluttered house, with things just thrown into the rooms they belonged in. Those people were the most fun to read though, because they were always just a little bit more cohesive when I came back out.

Very few people had something larger than a house, but when they did, they either had an entire office building or they had a large mansion, some even with a backyard and tool shed out back. It was crazy. Hope was one of those people. Most of her memories were stored in the upper levels of the mansion, while her active memories were in the kitchen and backyard. I had noticed before that when it had to do with her powers, they were outside, but I never went far enough that I could figure it out.

In every mind, there were cracks and fissures where you could see deeper than their memories and feelings. When it started to hurt the person you were looking at, that was when you were in the fissures, and in the fissures was the very core of their being.  
Right now, I was looking into the core of Hope's powers, and holy crap, it went on forever.

"Eric, tell me what it is."

Did I have something like this in my mind? It looked like her powers were limitless! Were mine?

"Here, let me try something. It might hurt, okay?" I asked, taking her hand. Physical touch always helped when I needed to do the harder stuff. She nodded, and I went in, focusing on leveling out the crater. 

At first, I tried to imagine the stuff coming up to the surface, but she began twitching, so I stopped. She'd never tell me if it hurts, so I had to learn how to tell when it did. Instead, I pictured stairs being built into the side of the crater, going down level by level. I went three levels and then stopped, figuring she could learn the rest by herself.

When I opened my eyes, Hope was red-faced and sweating, and I frowned. "Hope! Why didn't you tell me it hurt?"

"What?" She said breathless. "That didn't hurt."

"You're a terrible liar." I stuck my tongue out at her. "You sure you're fine?"

"Yeah." She nodded, bare foot poking into the river. "I'll be fine."

"Good, because I want you to try and make a rock."

Hope's head whipped around, giving me the most ridiculous look. "You want me to what?"


	7. Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The wheels are in motion.

So, creating rock out of thin air was harder than I thought.

"Eric, I just got my fire powers under control, you really think I can create rock out of nothing?" Hope asked a week later, walking with me into the school. "I thought the laws of matter stated specifically that you can't create something out of nothing."

I frowned, reaching into her mind. I didn't think we'd gone over that in science class yet. "Did you get that from the website?"

She blushed, readjusting the strap of her backpack as we pulled the door open. "Yeah, I read a bit on it." I put up the filter like I did every day around us, making our conversation tuned out of everyone's hearing. "He's got a paper up on it that he wrote a few years back. It's got a ton of big words I don't know, but it's still pretty easy to read."

"So did it say anything about creating rocks out of thin air?" I pushed, watching her as she opened her locker. "Because you can definitely do that, I saw!"

Hope gave me a look as she grabbed her notebook, "Eric, I definitely can't. It's like, a law of the universe or something. Rocks don't come out of thin air." She slammed her locker shut. "Maybe we can start small, like we did with the water. We'll work up to it." Then Aaron and Mary walked by and Hope left me, walking to her first class with them. I sighed, turning to walk to the eighth grade hallway. A few people smiled at me, but other than that, I was largely ignored. Not that it really mattered, because I still saw my other friends. But needless to say, it was awkward being the scrawny seventh grader in the eighth grade classes.

"No notebook again, Eric?" Mrs. Anderson, my science teacher, asked me as I sat in the front by her desk.

"Photographic memory, remember?" I told her, smiling at my joke. If only she knew.

Hey, maybe she would know.

"Mrs. Anderson, what are the laws of matter?"

\- - - - -

"So what exactly is starting small with rocks?" I asked Hope, pulling my shoes off down at the park once again. "Like, making sand?"

"Hold on." She mumbled, flipping through her notes. "I don't have as much written on the earth section. There's definitely a lot more on fire powers."

"Oh cool! So you're like, kind of rare then?" Her shoes were in a messy pile beside her with her beanie on top. I set mine next to her, then poked into her mind, annoyed that she was ignoring me.

Her eyes cut up at me, sharp and green. "Cut it out, Eric. It's hard to think when you're poking around like that."

"I'll stop poking around when you tell me when your eyes turned green."

"My--what?" In a flash, they were gone and back to their regular grey. My eyes widened. 

"I think it's when you're using your powers!" I told her, the realization finally dawning on me. "Quick, do the fireball thing."

Confused, Hope held her hand out, creating the small fireball on her hand. As soon as it lit up, her eyes darkened to a deep red, the sparks reflecting in her eyes.

"Now water."

Another bright flash, and the fireball was replaced by a tiny sphere of water. I cocked my head. "Since when can you make water?"

She shrugged, making it swirl around her fingers. "Dunno. Figured it was from the water in the air. Hydrogen, or something." In delight, I watched as her eyes faded into a light blue.

"Okay, it's definitely whenever you use your powers. So maybe earth makes them turn green!"

Hope looked up at me. "Are my eyes blue right now? Oh my gosh, are they pretty? Mary's got the prettiest eyes."

I smiled to myself. "Yeah, she does." I looked at Hope, then frowned at the face she was giving me. "Shut up, no they're not. Yours don't look anything like hers anyways, they're too clear."

"Like translucent?"

I had to read her mind to see what she meant. "Uh, yeah, I guess so."

Hope grinned brightly. "Cool." She set her notebook down, toes digging into the rocky sand that was on the bank of the river. "So. Let's see if I can mess with plants, and we'll go up from there."

"Why plants?" I asked, crawling up beside her. We were focusing on a small weed in front of us, probably a dandelion or something.

"Because they're already there. So it'll be like the water, where I don't have to try and create it out of nothing." She furrowed her brow, sticking her tongue out as she focused. I watched too, curious to see if she could do anything.

To my surprise, the plant gave a small twitch. "Hope! That's so cool--"

"Hold on."

I glanced at her, then turned back to watch again. The plant gave a twitch again, larger this time, and then the stem shot up two inches.

She let out a breath, face red from holding it. "How cool was that?" She asked, already looking proud of herself. I smirked at her, patting her shoulder condescendingly. 

"It's a start."

This time, I definitely deserved the ball of water to my face.

\- - - - -

 

"You ask her."

"No way, dude. Mom likes you better."

"Don't be a wimp. Ow! Fine!" I frowned, rubbing my arm as we stepped into the kitchen.

"Hey Mom?" I asked tentatively. I knew for sure there was no way she'd let us go. I just felt bad about how many times I'd had to do this to her.

"Yeah, hun?" She asked, turning around with a smile.

I sighed. Best to get it out of the way quick. "Can Hope and I go to a conference in Seattle?" Immediately, I went into her mind, resolving to do Dad when he got home. "It'll be a family vacation." I said gently, inserting the idea into her mind. "You and Dad will go on a nice date all day in town while Hope and I can do what we want. It'll be a day trip." Hope nodded, watching Mom carefully.

Mom froze for a second, face blank in what I had come to recognize as the 'memory face'. She blinked a couple times, then smiled. "Yeah, that sounds fun! I'll let your father know to call off work that day, and we'll make a day out of it!" She turned back around, going back to making dinner. 

Hope turned to look at me, eyebrows raised. "Well, that went easier than planned." She hopped off her stool, following me as we went back upstairs with Mom's wallet. The hotel that was holding the conference was where we got the room, just a few floors up. The only trouble would be to get in without anyone noticing.

"Well, now that we have the room locked down," Hope started, setting Mom's card down and closing the tab, "We just need a plan on how to get into the building."

"I was just thinking about that." I mumbled, looking up to the plant Hope had put in our room. It sat up on a windowsill, and she was obsessed with it. She claimed it made her feel "closer to her powers", whatever that meant. Probably some yoga thing. It was the dandelion she had first worked on, except now she had made it grow and turn into a huge bush-looking thing. While it was annoying, it did help her work on her powers when she messed with it every day. We still had yet to get anywhere on the making rock thing, although now she could make the mud form shapes.

"Do you think there'll be other mutants there?" She asked quietly, fingers wiggling while she made the plant move. 

I shrugged, flopping down onto the bed. "I kinda hope there will be. But then again, I kind of don't."

"What?" Hope looked over in surprise, the plant ceasing movement. "Why not?"

"It'll make it harder to sneak in." I shrugged. "Chances are if they're a mutant, they'll know that mind-readers exist. If they do, they'll probably be able to resist anything I could do to them to let us get in."

Hope looked down to her bare feet. "Huh, hadn't thought of that." We were silent, each thinking our plan over. How would we get in if my powers wouldn't work on them? Hope began moving the plant again, little droplets of water falling onto it from above.

"Well, you could always make your plant dance." I snorted, and she grinned.

"I'll be the distraction if it comes to it!" She flicked a bit of water at me, then leaned back in the chair. "You're more important in the plan, anyways. If we can't get in long enough to listen to the conference, you could always just go in and read his mind."

I shrugged, "I guess so. Wouldn't be as fun without you though."

"Trust me, if I'll be causing a distraction, I'll be having fun." She grinned at me, coming over to sit on the bed next to me. "Now come on, let's go make little clay men and have them battle."

I laughed, grabbing my shoes to follow Hope down to the river. While I had been jealous of her powers at first, I soon became glad that she was going through this with me. We were learning about our powers and helping each other get better, and we had gotten closer because of it. Before, I had just been her annoying brother who couldn't read. Now, it was like we were a superhero team.

"You're cheating!" I laughed, watching as her mud monster tackled mine. I pointed my hand at her, floating her beanie off of her head and onto mine.

"Am not!" She cried, jumping up to come grab it back from me.

I shoved her off of me, laughing at the mud smeared on her cheeks. I should have known then: Whenever everything seems to be going right in the movies, that's when everything takes a turn for the worst.

And we were coming up on the worst possible turn you could imagine.

\- - - - -

"So, roadtrip!" Mom squealed as Dad started up the car. "This will be fun!"

I rolled my eyes and Hope punched me. _Be nice! She's excited._ I stuck my tongue out at her, but gave Mom a thumbs-up in the rearview. "Yeah! Roadtrip!"

"We haven't done one of these in a while." Dad commented, driving down the street. "At least not without a soccer tournament as our destination."

"What can I say? I'm a star athlete." Hope explained breezily, playing with a water tendril that was wrapping around her fingers.   
After a few more minutes of them talking, I put up a mental block in their minds so they wouldn't hear us--or bother us with more stories from when we were little. Those were seriously the worst.

"Okay, so, we got the plan, right?" I asked Hope. 

She nodded. "Yeah. You use your mental thing to make everyone think we belong there and we go into the conference, put up the 'diversion spectrum' or whatever stupid name you came up with for that, and we sit and listen and don't cause a scene."

I grinned, "Diversion spectrum sounds awesome."

"Yeah, whatever." Hope sighed. "I really hope you come up with better names in the future."

I shrugged. "Probably not. But okay, if something goes wrong and the plan can't go as planned, what do you do?"

"Set someone on fire."

"Hope, _no_."

She frowned. "What do you mean, no? It's not gonna hurt anyone!"

I gaped at her. "Dude, we've gone over this. Just because the fire doesn't hurt you doesn't mean it doesn't hurt anyone else!" I shook my head. "You're supposed to be the smart one!"

Hope crossed her arms. "Fine, fine. I won't set someone on fire." She slumped back in the seat. "I'll just create a distraction so you can get in and read his mind." Then she quirked an eyebrow. "What are you gonna do if you can't read his mind?"

I paused. "You know, I hadn't really thought of that."

She continued to watch me. "Seriously? If he's giving a press conference on mutants, that means he's definitely come into contact with other mutants, so that means there's a huge chance he'll be able to block you out like I can."

"Nah, he can't totally block me out." I said assuredly. "There's always cracks in people's defense. I just got to find it."

“Have to find it. But, always cracks?" Hope asked, looking offended. I nodded, "Uh, yeah. In everyone, no matter what."

"What's mine then?" She asked angrily, leaning forward.

I gave her a look. "Chill out. Yours is only when you're distracted, like when you're using your powers. You can't use your powers and block me out at the same time."

"Yeah? And what's your weakness?"

I paused, chewing on my lip. No one's ever tried to read my mind, but I definitely felt it at times. I just hoped that no one would ever try it, because I wasn't sure if I could make that part stronger. 

"It's you."

I looked out the window to my right, ignoring Hope's confused look. No matter how hard I pushed her, it was always because I wanted her safe. I didn't know what it was, but I had a horrible feeling I needed to protect her.

The car was silent for a few minutes except for the quiet noise of the radio, then Hope nudged me with her toe.

"Sorry."

I turned to look at her, confused. "For what?"

She shrugged, fiddling with her thumbs. Hope never did apologies well. "For being your weakness."

I let out a small laugh, making her turn to glare at me. "Hope, it's fine. Don't worry about it." I punched her leg lightly, then turned to face her. "But let's work on yours. Start doing the water thing again that you were doing."

"The little worm?" She asked, making the water shape appear in her palm.

I nodded. "Yeah! Do the twirly thing you were doing earlier. While you're doing that, I'll try and get in your mind, and we'll practice your defense." Hope nodded, looking down to the water in her hand and focusing.

I poked and prodded all around, pointing out to her where the cracks were. If I couldn't fix my weakness, I could at least help her.


	8. Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eric learns a lot and Hope breaks the rules.

The hotel room was surprisingly nice for how cheap it was. Or maybe I had just never bought a hotel room and had no idea how the prices worked. How was I to know? I was 13. Either way, Mom and Dad got settled in rather easily, discussing dinner plans that night while Hope and I finalized the plan for the next day.

"If things get bad, we can always just run out a back door." I told her, and Hope grinned.

"Or, we could escape through a laundry chute!"

I stared at her, "You're kidding, right?" and she pouted.

"You're the one who watches all the movies," She whined. "I figured you'd come up with a really cool plan."

"We don't need cool, we need to make sure we're safe." I sighed. "Come on, when we go downstairs to dinner, we can get a better look at the layout, kind of scope it out better."

Hope sat up, reluctantly pulling on her shoes when Mom made her. Hope hated wearing shoes now. She said it was easier to do the yoga poses when she could feel the ground beneath her. "At least scoping it out will kind of make me feel like a spy, I guess." I nudged her, giving her a hopeful smile. Even if the plan wasn't as glamorous as she wanted it to be, it would definitely help us to figure out how best to treat our abilities.

"Have you thought about telling Mom and Dad yet?" Hope asked quietly as we exited the elevator, our parents leading the way to the restaurant. 

I glanced up at them warily, shaking my head. "No. Dad's still got an angry thing whenever they're brought up on the news, and you know Mom will just go along with whatever Dad says." I snorted. "It'd probably go better if we told them we were gay." I laughed, looking over to Hope. She was staring at me, and I dropped my mouth open, punching her. "Hope! No, I'm not gay! God, it was a joke." I rolled my eyes, and she laughed now.

"I wasn't sure!" She grinned, looping her arm through mine. "Hey, if me and Aaron don't work out, you could always have him. You two would be a cute couple."

I rolled my eyes. "Me and Aaron would be a horrible combination, regardless of what the situation is." She laughed again, and we walked into the restaurant, the hostess showing us to our seats. Inside the little room, the air felt different, and I could feel Dad tense up ahead of me. I frowned, looking past him.

Ahead of us, a large group of people sat, and I noticed with surprise that a couple of them had different color skin. One was a bright green, his arms almost appearing scaley as I watched him reach for his glass. He glanced over at us as we passed, probably expecting a rude word from Dad.

I silenced Dad, making his mouth clamp shut as I turned to face the guy. "Cool scales, dude." I whispered, giving him a thumbs up. Hope waved, and the guy and the rest of the people at the table smiled in surprise. As we walked past, I heard one of them saying to him, "See? I told you they weren't all bad."

We sat at our table, and I blocked the mutants from Dad's mind, urging him to focus on his menu. Hope kicked my leg under the table, whispering, "That one dude's tattoos are so cool."

I glanced back at the table of mutants, then smiled. "Hope, I think that's his skin." I sat back in my chair, mind reaching out gently to poke around in their minds. "This is so cool. They're here for the conference."

"So we'll probably see them tomorrow?" Hope glanced over one more time before picking up her menu.

"Yeah, definitely." I told her, frowning a bit. In the corner of the restaurant, someone had picked up on me reading their mind. I had a habit of glancing through everyone's minds as we entered a room, to practice assessing danger. When I had done the read-through, this guy had noticed. I saw him looking around the room, trying to figure out who it was. A second too late I looked away, wincing as he noticed our eye contact. I kept my eyes on my menu, talking to Dad while listening to him. 

Eventually, after we had ordered our drinks, the man went back to his own meal, but I had trouble eating. The thoughts he had were anything but friendly, and the way he was staring intently at Hope and the table of mutants was definitely making me less than comfortable.

\- - - - -

"You two have fun!" I called after Mom and Dad as they walked down the hallway. Mom waved over her shoulder to us, grabbing Dad's hand. We waved until they turned the corner, then I shut the door and looked back to Hope.

"Ready?"

She looked up from her phone, flipping it closed. "Yeah!" She jumped off the bed. "Do you think it'll be long? Or will there be a movie he made? Maybe a slideshow?"

I rolled my eyes, grabbing my phone as well. "Maybe a slideshow. And even if he has one, it's not going to be a cool one." Hope frowned, walking beside me as we left the room.

"Darn. Oh well. I bet you'll have fun reading all the mutants in there." She mused, pushing the button for the elevator.

My mind flashed back to the guy last night, the one who wasn't a mutant but still caught on to me reading his mind. "Yeah, I guess. Doctor McCoy is the only one I really want to read, though. He's the one that's going to be able to tell us the most about our powers." We fell silent as we got on the elevator with a few other people, and I listened to Hope silently going over her yoga mantras for fire and water. The steady stream of words in her mind calmed me down, made me less nervous about going in.

"Remember, don't set anyone on fire." I whispered to her as we got off on the main floor, following the signs that led to the ballrooms where the conference was held. She rolled her eyes, but didn't give me any confirmation that she was listening to me as we made our way back. Every so often, a sign was posted with the name of the conference and Doctor McCoy's name. I continually flexed my hands, nervous. Would that man be here? Should I send out a mental wave to see? He'd notice me if I did. Maybe I shouldn't. I glanced around us, looking at the people standing on the edge of the hallways talking. Now that we were only a bit away, I put up the perception filter, and listened as everyone's minds completely forgot about the two middle-schoolers walking among them.

To my surprise, there were a few people who my perception filter didn't effect. I stayed away from their minds, assuming they must have had some sort of mental training in order for them to be able to do that. Maybe that's why the man had felt me last night.

No sooner had I been reminded of him than I caught sight of him out of the corner of my eye, making his way towards Hope and I. I glanced ahead of us, biting my lip. We were only twenty feet away! If we could just make it in the room, then we could hide at a table and he wouldn't be able to make a scene--

"Excuse me young man." A low voice growled, grabbing my shoulder. Hope froze, looking next to me with wide eyes. I glanced up, swallowing harshly. The man was much more intimidating up close, dark eyes narrowed down at me. "Aren't you a little young to be at a place like this?"

In a panic, I dropped the perception filter, yelling out, "Get off of me!" Everyone in the area turned to look, and I watched as the man got nervous, tightening his grip on me. 

Hope grabbed my shoulder, whispering, "Sorry about breaking the rules." Before I could question her, a sign about five feet away from the man burst into flames, surprising him enough that he loosened his grip on my arm just as Hope yanked me away. I threw up the perception filter around us again just as Hope made the man's hands spark, as if he was the one who had started the fire. The people all around him began yelling, moving to put out the fire. Hope pushed me ahead, saying "Go in the conference! I'll handle the fire then meet you in there." I nodded, making my way through the crowd that had gathered and through the doors. As they shut behind me, the noise from the other room was cut off, replaced by a gentle murmur of the people around me.

At least a hundred people had to have been seated in the room, scattered at various tables. Mutants and humans alike were gathered, speaking to each other normally. My mind was blown. This was nothing like the media or even my father made it out to be. They were laughing, smiling, speaking just like normal people. Why had it seemed like there was so much animosity between them?

I glanced around the room, trying to find a few empty seats. There was one off to the right at a table with only a couple people seated at it. I scanned their minds, only to find that one of them could block me out completely. I frowned, moving over to sit at a different table on the left.

I plopped down, smiling at the other people there. Not a minute later, someone walked out on stage and applause began, and my eyes almost burst out of my head.

The man was blue. Blue and furry, of all things. He looked like a colossal cat, mixed with a wolf. But walking upright. I shook my head, confusing myself by trying to describe him.

"Hello, everyone!" He spoke into the microphone, smiling as his deep voice echoed. "As you may have noticed, I no longer look like my picture on the signs you've been seeing." Everyone laughed as if this was something they already knew, and I pressed into his mind gently as he began speaking.

"My name is Hank McCoy, or as some of my colleagues know me, Beast. I'm here today to discuss current issues in the Mutant world and what some of our human allies can do to help, among other topics..."

This was the guy who had written the articles for that website, the one that Hope read all the time. Thankfully, he didn't seem to notice me poking around his mind, so I tried my best to stay as shallow as possible in case he had some training against telepaths.

"What'd I miss?"

I jumped, surprised by Hope sliding into the seat next to me. She smelled like sweat, as if she had been running. I was so focused on Doctor McCoy right now that I vowed to check later.

"Nothing much." I whispered back, moving into his memories. "I'm reading his mind, so be prepared to leave whenever." Hope nodded, settling back in her seat to listen to him.

I've never been so glad that my power enabled me to remember everything I saw in other people's minds. There was so much information it was almost pouring out of every section I looked into. He's been researching and studying mutants for years, much longer than we've even been alive for. He must have been a lot older than the picture on his website.

After poking into every room I could, I finally pulled out, watching as he paused in his speech before he continued. I saw him glance off to someone seated near the front of the stage, then felt a wave move through the room mentally, as if someone were scanning for something. It took me another moment to realize they were probably scanning for me.

"There's another powerful telepath in here." I told Hope, nudging her leg. "We need to go, now."

"Did you finish?" She asked, looking worried. I nodded, pushing her out of our seats. We scurried towards the door, and I could feel someone's eyes on us all the way out. I put the filter up, closing the door silently behind us.

In the lobby, the sign only looked a tad bit singed around the corners, although the floor around it was absolutely soaked. There were scorch marks near the doors and there was definitely one potted plant missing--oh, scratch that. Nevermind. It was on top of a desk in the corner, which was also surrounded by a massive puddle of water and dirt. I glanced at Hope, who shrugged. "Got rid of him, didn't I?" I decided then and there I didn't want to know what she had to do. I sighed and walked back to the main lobby, Hope trailing after me.

"What? What'd I do?"


	9. Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope and Eric versus the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want, listen to "We Could Be Heroes" by Alesso while reading this.
> 
> Also, this chapter's kind of short, sorry!

Hope and I sat in the back of a little cafe down the street, tucked in a booth where I could see the door but people coming in couldn't see us. We ordered a couple smoothies from the counter, then I sat down tensely, fidgeting in my seat. "Got your notebook?"

Hope nodded, pulling it out from the bag she brought with us. We had swung by the hotel room before we came here, figuring we needed a public space where we could be sure the man wouldn't try and come after us.

I floated the pen over to her, chewing on my thumbnail. She opened up to a blank page, then looked at me. "Alright, ready." I nodded, closing my eyes. After setting up the perception filter, I tapped into Hope's mind, opening up a bridge so she could see all of the information I had gotten from Doctor McCoy.

"Holy crap." She laughed lightly. "I might run out of ink."

"Just write down what applies to us." I answered shortly, still super nervous about the man. Hope began writing, and I thanked the waiter for the smoothies. She began to categorize everything, on topics ranging from mutants getting sick to full on nuclear attacks. He knew how different chemicals could affect different abilities, how best to get rid of the flu, and even was working on a cure for some abilities. Hope wrote page after page, and I was amazed at how her hand didn't get tired, even when most of the notebook was filled.

After an hour and a half and two smoothies each, she finally set her pen down, letting out a huge sigh. "I think I'm done." I felt her go through my mind one more time, then she pulled back, leaning her head against the back of the booth with her eyes closed. "I've never took so many notes on anything, ever."

"Is it helpful to us?" I asked hopefully, glancing at the paper even though I knew I wouldn't find anything from it.

Hope laughed, "Oh, totally. But I'm exhausted, I've never used my powers like that before. Can we go back and nap before Mom and Dad come back to drive us home?"

I shifted in my seat, anxious to see what she had written. "Fine." I let out a sigh, leaving the money on the table for the smoothies. "Let's go nap."

We only had to wait a few more hours before Mom and Dad came back, happy and smiling. We packed our stuff up and headed back to Oregon, Hope going over her notes and highlighting things the whole way. Once we got home, we went up to our room, carefully closing the door behind us.

"So?"

Hope rolled her eyes, sitting down on the bed. "Someone's awfully antsy about this."

"Can you blame me?" A nervous smile slid across my face. "This could help us so much. We can figure out how to become like, the best superheroes ever and then go to the mutant school and join the team!" I sat on the bed next to her, pulling the notebook out for her. "Come on, just tell me what we found out."

She sighed, looking at me for a moment before opening the notebook to the right page. "Okay, well. The stuff at the beginning is a lot to do with coming to terms with your powers and being okay with it. Apparently, a lot of mutants freak out in the beginning."

"What do you mean apparently?" I snorted. "We freaked out."

"No, like, worse than us." Hope made a sympathetic face. "I kind of feel bad. I mean, you saw Dr. McCoy's abilities, right? Wouldn't that be scary? And some people were way worse off, like that guy in the restaurant. And a lot of humans react poorly to people with powers. We got lucky."

I frowned, looking down at my hands. She did have a point. Our powers were all inside, and we could keep them hidden easily. And what if we had hurt someone?

"So, there's a lot on how to deal with that, and how to tell other people." She continued, flipping through the pages. "We won't have to worry about that for a while though." She hummed to herself, scanning over the pages. "Oh, here we go."

"What?" I asked, looking over her shoulder.

"This part was about mental abilities. Not a lot of people have them, so there's something cool." She smiled as she read. "Apparently, even fewer have telepathy and telekinesis. That fact alone classifies you as Omega level." She kept reading as I grinned. Omega? So I was really rare?

"Shoot, no, maybe you're Class Five."

"Really?" I asked in surprise, eyebrows raising. "What's the difference?"

She looked up at me. "There's literally only one Class Five mutant in the whole world, and she's crazy powerful. The only difference is that for her, it says something about 'sub-atomic manipulation' but I haven't noticed you being able to do any of that. So we'll stick with Omega."

"What about you?" I pressed, leaning forward.

Hope shrugged, eyes still scanning the notes. "I mean, I have more ability than most mutants, but it's hard to figure out because we don't know what all I can do yet."

"I do!" I told her. "I saw what you can do, you're gonna be so powerful once you get it all under control."

"You think?" She asked, biting her lip.

"Oh, definitely." I nodded. "Like, you've got the elements so far. And you can control them, which is sick. You're getting better at that every day, so who knows? Maybe you can be a blood-bender like on Avatar!"

Hope punched my arm, "That's a show, Eric. Nobody can blood-bend in real life."

I sighed, "Fine, fine. But if I'm Omega, then you definitely are. Or at least will be." I grinned at her, and she smiled back. "Hope, we're Omega level mutants."

Her eyes lit up, looking brighter in the light from the window. "We're Omega level mutants!"

I cheered, wrapping her in a hug while she started laughing. She cheered as well, and then I froze as I noticed the breeze in the room. I looked to the window, but it was closed. Hope cheered again, and then breeze picked up strength, and I looked back to her, noticing her light grey eyes.

"Hope! You're doing that!"

She paused, then grinned even wider as the wind picked up again. It blew around our room, knocking papers off the desk and making my hair fly around my head.

"I'm the avatar!" She screamed above the wind, high fiving me. "I'm the freaking avatar!"

I laughed along with her, watching the fan in our room turn around and around. She may not be the avatar, but she definitely was powerful. Very powerful. Turning my head, I watched the light in her eyes change colors, making her plant dance in the wind. If only she could read her own mind, see what all she was capable of, see how powerful she really would be.

I frowned, looking away from her. What if I could see my powers? Would I want to? Would I even want to know how powerful I was? With powers like this, we'd need to be careful, make sure we were always doing the right thing.

"Come on, let's go outside." Hope punched me, running out the door. I followed behind, watching the flowers along the path grow that much taller in her wake. With powers like this, we could do so much for this world. With powers like this, we had to be destined for greatness.

 _With powers like this,_ I thought to myself as I watched the water grow in spirals around the dancing plants, Hope screaming in delight, _You'd almost think we were meant to be a part of something much bigger than ourselves._


	10. Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything good must come to an end.

"This is so sweet! It's like you really are the avatar or something! Or one of the avengers!" I called out, eyes alight. How was she able to do all this? It was like what I had glimpsed in the back of her mind was just the beginning. It had been a week since the conference, and our powers were continually getting stronger thanks to everything we had learned. We had a plan laid out to get us to Xavier’s school once we reached 16; we had a plan for if someone at school found out; we had a plan for even if our parents found out. We knew so much more now, and it was helping us become better and stronger.

Hope nodded silently, looking down at her hands in front of her. I could feel her thinking that somehow, this seemed a lot more serious than a Nickelodeon cartoon. I had to give that to her. In one hand, she was holding a gentle orb of water, floating slightly above her palm. Her right hand was encased in flames. I was pretty sure that website didn’t have anything to say about people who could do both at the same time.

"Do the wind thing again!" I shouted over-eagerly to Hope. She smirked, letting the water fall to the ground and putting the fire out. Closing her eyes and raising her arms, a large gust of wind began swirling around her, raising Hope off of the ground and making my shaggy hair flow around my head. We were just in our backyard, so she didn’t go too high in case our Mom was looking out the window. She hovered and turned back to me, beaming.

"Eric, this feels crazy. I wish I could show you." She said, returning to the ground. I grabbed her hand, pulling her into a hug, then let go, staring intently. 

"Hope, is there anything else you can do? We know you got all the elements. But the avatar on that show could do the spirit thing, too. Can you do that?" I stepped back a few steps again, eyes wide. It was a long shot, but maybe this was the key to finding her other powers. After all, there had been so much more than just the basic elements in her mind. “Try it. Try to feel a spirit or something."

Hope stared at me for a moment, then sighed. “Yeah, sure, I’ll try.” I could tell she had her doubts, thinking maybe we should just leave it as it is. I understood her doubts, but the benefits outweighed them, right? We could do so much good if we could do more with our powers. She could feel me probing gently into her mind, and she pushed me back out. "Stop! I can't do it with you listening in like that!"

I grinned mischievously. "Sorry, just curious!" She rolled her eyes, then closed them, focusing. I watched intently, looking for any sign that it was working. She was frowning, focusing really hard on whatever she was trying to do.

Suddenly, the wind picked up again, making the leaves on the bushes around us rustle. Ignoring her protests from earlier, I pushed back into her mind, feeling her search through the area around us. She was poking into the center of the plants she was used to manipulating, seeing if there was something there. My mind went down the same path, poking into corners that she missed. At the core of every plant was a feeling of being connected to something greater. I followed down that path, guiding her to a deeper core of that feeling. The plant’s sense of this went deep, far deeper than the roots stretched. Was Hope able to tap into the Earth itself?

Then her eyes snapped open, and I felt a tremor go through her mind. Something had latched onto her, poking back into her mind from the same path that we had just explored down. The sky around us grew dark, and the ground began shaking.

"Eric! Get out!" She shouted above the howling wind. Roots and small plants began springing up around her feet, lashing out in sort of a manic dance as the connection in my mind began to crack, giving me a headache. “I can't control it!"

I tried to pull out, but was halted. The same thing was holding me in there. I felt an icy cold begin creeping down my back, freezing my feet and mind into place. “Let go!" I told her, fighting to get out. Was she holding me in there? Or had we found something—or someone—much worse? Instead of responding to me, I saw her eyes and mouth fly open, a glowing light pouring out of them. I lifted my hand to shield my face from the light, but it was no use. It was all around, seeping into every crack in my mind. A deep sound resonated, echoing inside my own head. I dropped to my knees, gasping for breath. The pain was beginning to hurt—badly.

"Hope! Let go!" I screamed. My fingers began tearing at the skin on my head, as I couldn't bear the pain anymore. I grabbed at my hair, begging for it to stop.

"You're not permitted to leave." A voice said inside my head. I raised my tear-filled eyes, looking to my sister, hovering slightly above the ground. Eyes aglow, she raised a finger to point at me. Again, the voice spoke inside my head, instead of coming from her mouth. How was she able to do that? With a gripping pain in my gut, I realized that I was no longer speaking to my sister. "I require your abilities to make my voice heard. Come, join together."

A searing pain flashed through my head. I heard a scream, not knowing whose it was, and I was blinded. It felt as if I was being ripped in two, pulled from opposite ends before being shoved into a shoebox, cramped and cold and far too small.  
Slowly, the pain subsided, and I saw my body drop face-first onto the ground, everything fading out around me as I looked away, back into the darkness.

The last thing I heard was my sister's voice, very close to me, sobbing, "Eric, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

_I'm so sorry._

\- - - - -

Susanne Banner, if not known for anything else, always had dinner ready on time. For the past fifteen years that she’d been married to her husband and for the thirteen years she had her twins, she has always had that ready for him when he came home, no matter what else was going on in their lives.

She was at the sink, peeling the potatoes before getting ready to boil, when she decided to glance out the window to check on her children.

For the first time in her cooking career, she wasn’t going to have dinner ready.

“Sam?” She shrieked as she dropped the knife, sprinting for the door that led out to the backyard. “Sam! Sam!” Not waiting for a response from her husband, she yanked the door open, running across the back porch and down the stairs. “Eric!” She called, tears springing into her eyes. Not now, not her baby, _not her son._

“Eric!” She shrieked, falling to her knees beside him. “Eric!”

“Susanne, what’s going on?” Sam yelled, running out to her side. He froze, looking down at Eric, laying on the ground before them. “I…Is he…?” She didn’t even have time to begin thinking of an explanation before a cold voice made them freeze.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?”

Susanne and Sam turned, looking to the group of men that stood on their back door step. They carried some sort of heavy-duty shield and wore helmets, as if they were prepared for an attack. The man in front walked forward, “Took us a while to find your boy, here. But I’m so glad we did. He’s going to be very useful in the plans we have for him…” He trailed off, looking to Susanne. “Why are you looking at me like that?” As if realizing it a second too late, he shoved her aside, looking down to Eric on the ground.

His frown grew deeper, lines etched in his face as if being carved in stone. All of his orders he had: gone, just like that. He let out a sigh, looking back to his henchmen. “Well, boys. Change of plans. Calter won’t want the kid in this shape.” He raised the gun in his hand to point at Sam, giving him a look of anger. “Sorry ‘bout your luck, sir.”

The lights in the kitchen stayed on, pouring out onto the backyard until well after dark. The potato and rest of the ingredients wasted away in the sink, left forgotten. The pot sat on the stove, over boiling with water. It splashed over the brim, sending droplets all around the kitchen until the water had completely burned away, hours later. The puddle on the stove stayed, reflection showing drawings from two children and photographs of a family who would never set foot in this house again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that was so sad, sorry. ): but it's not over yet!!


	11. Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *imagine dragons playing* I'm waking UP

A gentle breeze swept through my hair, slowly working at what had lain asleep for too long. I tried to move my hand, but found I was only able to move a few fingers. What was holding me down?

With a jolt, I realized these are the first thoughts I’ve had in years. _Years._ I took a deep breath in, the first breath of fresh air I’d had making my lungs wheeze, straining against the ache of not moving for so long. The more I moved, the more I strained against it, the more I was able to push against whatever was holding me down.

_I’m waging a war._

One step forward, two steps back slowly became three steps forward, one step back. I pushed, using muscles I hadn’t used in years. It had only just occurred to me that I didn’t know where I was. I blinked, glancing around me. It was dark, blacker than black, as if every and any ounce of light that found its way here had been sucked out. And I was terrified of the night.

_Be prepared to accept your role in the war._

My hands slowly became free, finally able to bend my wrists. I strained, pushing farther and farther until my arms could move a few inches. The feeling of being trapped was making my chest grow tighter, making me more anxious to fight off this feeling of being buried alive. Memories were rushing back to me, some that were mine, others I didn’t recognize. Then I started on my feet, struggling against the pressure weighing down on me. 

_You’re a mind reader?_

My arms and legs were pushing upwards, pressing against what felt like a coffin holding me down. I was screaming with the effort, pushing with everything I had in me. Fear drove me forward, kept me struggling to get out of the darkness.

_You’re powerful, kid. We could use you._

One more push, one more push, one more push, I told myself. Slowly, I noticed my surroundings growing brighter as I pushed. With a sense of renewed hope, I began swinging my arms and legs, kicking out and hitting the wall in front of me. I could feel it ready to give just as the light began hurting my eyes. One more hit, one more hit…

_No, he wasn’t too happy._

Suddenly the barrier shattered, pelting me with tiny pieces of whatever it was. I was falling, blindly, through the air, screams and cries and laughter all ringing out around me in the white light. I could feel the repercussions shattering around me, resonating deeper and deeper until it was a full on roar echoing deep inside my bones. 

And then I was floating. I held myself upright, hands out on either side of me. I felt warm, surrounded by hundreds of sparks, almost like tiny fireworks. I stretched, muscles groaning now that I could finally move. I lowered myself down, setting myself on the ground. Where was I?

Before I could think on it, I was slammed in my side, purple lights flashing before my eyes. What the hell? I groaned as I was hit again, feeling as if I was being pummeled from every direction. Hit after hit, I tried to flinch away from it, but it kept coming after me, surrounding me with purple.

And there it was, the final blow: a slice, straight into my stomach, as if from multiple stab wounds. My eyes flew open, laser focused on the apparition of someone yards and yards away from me, ripping out his claws with a dangerous grimace.

This was too much. With the force of thousands behind me, I gathered all of the purple I was surrounded with and pushed it through myself, lifting me up. With a final cry, I sent it outwards, the sparks hitting everything and everyone I could reach. 

_“Enough!”_

The sparks poured out of me, flowing as if it were an endless river. But it wasn’t, and I could feel the end coming. The stream from my fingers began to taper off, slowly dwindling to a few pathetic sparks, and then I was falling once again.

Down, down, down, into the darkness once more. Exhaustion was seeping into my bones, making the purple fade away into nothing. I closed my eyes, welcoming the warm embrace that the fog surrounded me in.

_And so you have been saved._

\- - - - -

When I woke back up, I was outside. At least, it looked like outside, but it didn’t feel right. Almost as if it was a fake outside. I groaned, head still sore from sleeping. Was that all a dream? I sat up, holding my head in my hands as I glanced around. I was in a field, the too soft grass almost feeling like laying on a blanket. The sky was too bright, the clouds too perfectly symmetrical. Someone had definitely made up this setting.

“Are you sure you aren’t mad?”

I froze, hearing the words behind me. How could that…was that her? After all this time, had she finally found me?

I turned slowly, throat tight as I looked over my shoulder. There was Hope, sitting just twenty yards away. She was facing me—but that wasn’t me she was talking to. 

I stood slowly, muscles aching. From this angle, he did look like me, but he was off. The shadows were too dark across his face, skin just a little too red. “You stopped the fighting.” He was saying to Hope, voice just this side of rough, as if it was playing through a voice recorder. “And according to Idril, you saved the world. Of course I’m not mad.”

Idril? Who was Idril? Hope had saved the world? I took a few steps forward, straining to hear Hope over the wind that had begun blowing in the clearing. 

“I didn’t know your powers could do that. It scared me.”

The fake me responded smoothly, “It scared me, too. But look at it this way: you can feel spirits now. You can feel me again, I’m here, almost fully.”

“Hope?” I whispered, voice hoarse. “Hope!”

She snorted, and my heart clenched at the noise. It’d been so long since I’d heard her, or seen her smile. “Wonderful, now you’re in my mind constantly, something every girl wants her brother to be.”

“Hope!” I shouted again. Why couldn’t she hear me? “Hope, that’s not me!”

Fake-me laughed, sounding completely plastic and fake. “Shut up, Hope. You know you missed me. You know, with your abilities, you can do amazing things now. I mean, controlling spirits…having mine in you…it opens up new possibilities.”

My eyes widened just as Hope’s did. No way. “Hope!” I shrieked, running forward. The wind continued howling, as if to push me backwards. “Hope, no!” Suddenly I slammed into a wall, completely invisible. I pounded my hand on it, looking for a crack as it shimmered in front of me. It went on forever, not budging an inch. I turned to look back at my sister, desperation seeping out of me. I tried to use my mind to get to her, but found I couldn’t get beyond this wall. “Hope!”

“Are you suggesting….?” She said quietly, looking at the man in front of her. There was no way she could think that I would actually say that, that I would ever suggest something like this.

“Hope!” I pounded on the wall, screaming desperately. “Hope! That’s not me! He’s not your brother! Hope!”

He nodded, grabbing Hope’s hand in a way that made me want to throw up. 

“You could bring me back, Hope. You could bring me back to life.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhhh hope you enjoyed it (:
> 
> the third story is on the way, so keep an eye out for that!!
> 
> also, here's the playlist for this story:
> 
> In Too Deep - Sum 41  
> Kryptonite - 3 Doors Down  
> (We Could Be) Heroes - Alesso  
> Shut Up and Dance - Walk the Moon  
> Superheroes - The Script  
> Fear - OneRepublic  
> The Reckless and the Brave - All Time Low  
> SOS - Abandon

**Author's Note:**

> Again, thanks so so much to everyone for reading this. You all are so great, honestly.
> 
> You can find me on tumblr at powercuntgirls and on wattpad as timefornothing!


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